Catherine Mondoa: Weaving Project
Intention:
“Sitting Under a Tree” is an ode to nostalgia, reflection, and peaceful daydreams. In this piece, I wanted to explore the ways that color and texture tell stories.
I love to paint. I like the ability to create a 2D world that conveys feeling by manipulating form, opacity, and stroke. Weaving makes me feel a similar rush. In that, I thought of weaving as “painting” a picture with threads. By nature of this medium, there are constraints to the way forms can be created. To an extent, you have to be strategic in your assembly of each line in order to craft the final image. As such, I found myself pouring into each line and imagining each in the context of their brethren. I wanted the picture to be seamless and yet interesting to the eye, such that, as the eye continues to rise, there is more to take in. This is where choice of color, gradation, geometry, and secondary manipulation came to play.
With this piece, I wanted to lean further into brighter colors. I wanted this piece to be vibrant so that each shape, or rather each quadrant, has its own story to tell. I love trees and warm days under bright blue skies. I wanted to capture the lush views that accompany a perfectly lazy summer day. The grass transitions upward from dark to light, symbolizing new growth and the inevitable turn around of dark days – the opportunity to blossom from nothing to something and low to high. These colors surround the black felted figure and the bark of the tree. Growth is the literal and figurative context of these two figures, though it is largely underscored by the figures themselves. It took growth to get to this point.
The physical outgrowth of the tree and the person make them, and, by extension, this moment in time more tangible. You can stop and touch this peaceful moment. You too can find peace. You too can reflect on the things that led to this moment and to the moments that will follow, but the figures invite you to stop and sit awhile. They invite you to appreciate the texture, and by so doing, appreciate the moment. I am entranced by the image of reflection. I think we fail to take the time to recuperate and let life sink in a bit. We don’t take the time to just sit and enjoy the little things. This piece allowed me to explore timelessness and the freedom to find the whimsy in the ordinary.
Process:
I started the piece by weaving several rows of sun yellow/orange. I then wove three shades of green to create a grassy backdrop. The shades rise from dark to light. To ensure a cohesive color flow, I created transition zones between the shades of green by alternating shades of green such that vertical stripes formed. Moving upward the backdrop switches to bright blue for the sky. There is a single row of tight leno that acts as a break between the ground and the sky. I had originally intended to craft the sky using only blue yarn yellow. However, this proved more complicated than anticipated and did not produce the desired effect. I found that the single row break combined with tightly woven blue was a more effective means to achieving a strong depth of backdrop. Finally, I created a small transition zone from blue to green for the meadow above the clouds. I wrapped the warp above this zone with green yarn to create stems.
The black figure was created by wet felting small black balls of wool. Attaching the figure involved dry felting a thin layer of black wool around each ball, following the outline of the figure. This thin layer acted as a satchel enclosing the welt felted components. Directly dry felting the balls to the woven outline proved too difficult a feat for my first felting needle. The tree bark was created by plainly weaving three rows of brown and then looping the fourth row. This produced a dense mass that protruded enough to be striking without overshadowing the rest of the piece.
As you continue up the length of the piece, you encounter brighter colors and loose dry felting in the form of the tree’s leaves, the yellow border separating the sky from the meadow, and the set of flowers. Two shades of green wool dry felted into the brown outlines of branches created the effect of tree leaves. I chose this material for its ethereal feel. The wispiness lends itself to movement and delicate detail. This texture adds to the faraway feel of the piece while keeping the viewer grounded in the realness of its colors. The choice to dry felt yellow along the border of the flower stalks separates two chapters. Below this yellow line we see the world beneath the clouds, the grounded reality. Above the clouds, outlined by this sun yellow, we enter Neverland, an endless field of flowers. This is an invitation to escape and to find your happy place in the field of flowers. The colors are striking but warm. The red is prominent and flanked by orange and yellow that fade into the larger yellow field. Ideally, I would have crafted more flowers to further recede into this backdrop, but I think this set nicely frames the piece and leaves the interpretation more open ended.
I chose to include metal birds in the top left corner as a way to play with an out of place material – something hard and shiny in the context of soft, bright material. The birds are striking because they are metal, but they add subtle life to the piece. This small gaggle moves in their own direction independent of the central figures. The tree grows in its position. The person chooses to sit in place, and it is understood that somehow they got there and could at any point leave. The birds fly. Every character has its own reasons for existing in that space in that time, and it is their coexistence that creates a full picture. The inclusion of small dry felted yellow and red flowers into the grass, adds small touches of color to the green backdrop.
Learning:
My goal in crafting this scene was to invite viewers to tell a story without words. Every person will have a different interpretation of this scene, but that’s ok. I am intrigued by that moment of pause when a person considers the details of objects first encountered. What details stand out immediately? How does my telling align with yours?
That being said, I learned that manipulating texture can be an interesting tool to create stand out features in a piece. However, the textures themselves can be hard to frame such that they convey distinct shapes. Many, upon first regarding my piece, saw the seated figure as a pile of coconuts in a tropical scene. This interpretation leads me to wonder how I can grow upon my use of wet felting techniques to create figures with more refined detailing.
In this piece, I also spent extra time compacting colors such that the warp did not appear. However, I had to compromise length and the ability to create more complex branch structures. As a result, what could have been a deciduous tree came out looking more like a palm tree in a field.
In general, I learned that you can’t plan for everything, and your vision will adapt as you move. The goal is to continue weaving and to continue exploring ways to bring life to your piece. I really enjoyed this project. I found it relaxing and cathartic to take a picture in my head and see it form as yarns moved between my fingertips.
